Here is the link to the article, and I'll add some highlights from the article below.
1. Here are the basic art pricing fundamentals (according to the article):
- Step 1: Define your market. Where do you sell your art? Do you sell locally, regionally, nationally or internationally? The art, artists and prices in your market are the ones you should pay the most attention to.
- Step 2: Define your type of art. What kind of art do you make? What are its physical characteristics? In what ways is it similar to other art? How do you categorize it? If you paint abstracts, for example, what kind of abstracts, how would you describe them? This is the type of art that you want to generally focus on for comparison purposes.
- Step 3: Determine which artists make art similar to yours either by researching online or visiting galleries, open studios or other venues and seeing their work in person. Pay particular attention to those artists who also have career accomplishments similar to yours, who've been making art about as long as you have, showing about as long as you have, selling about as long as you have and so on.
- Step 4: See how much these similar artists charge for their art. Their prices will be good initial estimates of the prices you should charge for your art.
2. You'll find that no matter what market you sell in, whether local, regional, national or international, that for the most part, every type of art by every type of artist has its own price structure, and that includes yours.
"But my art is unique. You can't price art like that." You may be thinking this, and you're right, your art is unique, but so is every house in any given neighborhood. No matter how unique your art is, it's also similar in certain ways to art by other artists-- just like one house is similar to another (they both have bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, roofs, and so on).
3. Here are some of the ways your art may be similar to other art
It may be similar in size, shape, medium, weight, subject matter, colors, the time it takes you to make it, when it was made, how long you've been making that type of art, how many you've made, what type of art it is (abstract, representational, conceptual, etc.), who your audience is, and so on. Your job is to explore your market, keep an open mind, find that similar art, find the artists who make it, focus on those who have similar experience and qualifications to yours, and see what they charge for it and why.
4. Some people who really like your art can't afford much.
They may be among your biggest fans, though, so give them a chance to buy something-- a print, a drawing, whatever. Have affordable options. Your art is your billboard, your business card. The more art you sell, the more people you sell to, the more places show it, the more people see it, the more you get your name out there, the better known you get, the more good will you create, and in the end, all that good comes back to you, much of it in the form of increased sales.
5. If you're in a group show, submit art that's in the same price range as the rest of the art in the show.
You don't want to enter the most expensive piece; you don't want people's first impression of your art to be sticker shock. You want your art to stand out for art reasons, not money reasons. If you're not sure what the show's price range is, ask the organizers before you submit.
He raises quite a few other points, but these were the ones that stuck out to me. Feel free to share what you found interesting about the article!
